One LBUSD. One Community. April 16, 2026 Board Meeting Recap.
One LBUSD. One Community. Together.
Last Thursday, something beautiful happened on Park Avenue.
Over 400 people walked together toward Main Beach, organized by CSEA and LaBUFA. Teachers. Staff. Retired educators who gave decades to this community. Students. Parents. Neighbors. People who have never been to a board meeting, but knew in their bones this moment mattered.
It was not a protest. It was a declaration. A celebration of LBUSD: students, teachers, staff, families, and community. The unions had no financial asks. This was an invitation to the larger Laguna Beach community to see the people who are joining together in this important moment. An ask for unity and respect.
To every person who walked: thank you. To every person who wanted to be there but could not: we felt you. To every educator and staff member who keeps showing up for our children every single day: you are family. We see you and we stand with you.
Thursday was proof of what we can do together. As One LBUSD, One Community.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.
April 16, 2026 Board Meeting Recap
The board met just hours after the rally. Here is a high level look at what was covered, followed by the items our community needs to understand more deeply.
A senior at Laguna Beach High School stepped up during public comment to address misinformation being spread in our community. She spoke with clarity, confidence, and conviction, noting that student and teacher voices are being ignored and that board decisions directly affect her experience and the experience of students for years to come. We are proud of every young person in this district who is paying attention and using their voice. It is a testament to what we are all capable of when we support and nurture this community together. (Timestamp 00:04:25)
The Facilities Master Plan process is wrapping up with a bond consultant presentation planned for June 4. Community engagement in that process is ongoing.
The LCAP Community Participation session is April 30 from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. at LBHS. Childcare is provided. "The Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) is a tool for local educational agencies to develop goals, plan actions, and leverage resources to meet identified goals to improve student outcomes." Your input directly shapes how this district moves forward. Link to Register: LINK
The Ad Hoc Arts Committee presented interim budget recommendations including a district VAPA (Visual and Performing Arts) coordinator, expanded community partnerships, and professional development integration. The board voted unanimously to refer these into the LCAP process for the 2026-27 budget cycle.
The Ad Hoc Transportation Committee reported meaningful progress on bus safety, communication, and access. Bus monitors and a CTE micro-transit pilot were referred into the LCAP process. The vote was 5-0.
Interdistrict transfer eligibility was presented as a discussion item only. No board action was taken. The full discussion was tabled for a future meeting. Enrollment at LBHS is approximately 818 students and, as is the trend nationally, declining. This conversation matters and our community should engage with it when it returns.
The board approved a legal services agreement with Morgan, Lewis and Bockius LLP related to an AB 218 insurance responsibility case. The vote was 3-2.
A community member raised an important concern during public comment. In 2022, the board passed a resolution committing LBUSD to carbon neutrality by 2030 and the district developed a comprehensive Energy Master Plan to get there through solar, battery storage, and energy efficient upgrades across all campuses. In February 2025, a financing mechanism called a Certificates of Participation was on the agenda and ready to move forward. Board Members Morgan and Perry pulled it from the agenda. It has never come back. With bond conversations and the Facilities Master Plan actively underway, the energy master plan has been completely absent. You can watch the moment it was pulled here: LINK. We are aligned with this concern and we are asking the board majority to bring it back to the table.
Principal Report: Joe Vidal, Thurston Middle School
Principal Vidal presented on the 8th Grade Capstone program. The work happening at Thurston is a testament to what student-centered leadership looks like in action. Students are doing meaningful, rigorous work that connects learning to the real world. Thurston has been named a 2026 California Distinguished School, specifically recognized as an achievement gap closer. Chronic absenteeism sits at 6.5 percent against a national average of 20 percent. Suspensions are at an all-time low of 1 percent. This is exactly what we want for every child in this district.
FUEL View: We celebrate Principal Vidal and the entire Thurston team on this well-deserved accomplishment.
LBUSD Environmental and Sustainability Education
Coordinator Gloria Harwood delivered one of the best presentations of the evening. LBUSD students are doing extraordinary work. The high school scored 85 percent on the comprehensive Green Ribbon application in its first year and accepted the state award last week. Students are competing in the SustainSoCal challenge, mapping beach trash with GIS technology in collaboration with Louisiana State University, and lobbying in Washington through the Citizens Climate Lobby. The FLOW program connects fire, land, ocean, and water to real civic action through every English class in January. 81 students in the Class of 2026 will graduate with the California State Seal of Civic Engagement on their diploma, up from 37 last year. It was great to hear from three LBHS students on the tremendous and meaningful experiences and work they are doing around sustainability.
FUEL View: We celebrate Gloria Harwood and every educator and student behind this work. The connection between art, climate, and civic advocacy is alive in our classrooms. This is exactly what we want our schools to produce.
What Is Happening in Closed Session
For the fifth consecutive meeting, an Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release item appeared in closed session. There was no report out of closed session.
February 26: Unscheduled performance evaluation of Superintendent Dr. Jason Glass placed on the closed session agenda with no prior notice. No report out.
March 12: Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release. Only report out was the routine release of temporary employees.
March 26: Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release. No report out.
April 9: Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release. No report out. Board Member Kelly asked President Morgan directly why this item keeps appearing. President Morgan stated she thought it had always been on there. Board Member Malczewski corrected the record on the dais, confirming the item was placed intentionally and that a discussion had taken place.
April 16: Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release. No report out. Again.
Despite that correction being made on the public record, the item returned to the agenda last week without explanation.
FUEL View: Five consecutive meetings. No transparency. We are concerned this pattern reflects board majority conversations about staff that are being shielded from public view. Our community deserves to know what is being decided behind closed doors.
Board President Morgan: A Notable Silence
The district's Staff Listening Session report was released this week through a Public Records Act request and posted to the district website the day of this meeting. Community members submitted written comments addressing it. It was available for every board member to read and acknowledge. Here is a link to the report: LINK
Board President Morgan has had multiple opportunities to address the findings in this report. She could have raised it in her board member report. She could have added it to the agenda. She did neither. Again, at the meeting, she said nothing.
The report documents what staff told their own leadership, in sessions Morgan attended and convened: governance dysfunction is the single greatest barrier to doing their jobs. Staff described fear of retaliation, erosion of trust, and a board majority whose conduct reaches into classrooms and affects our children every single day.
Our staff deserve to be treated with respect by every member of this board. We are asking the board majority specifically to not only acknowledge what is in that report, but to come back to this community with a real plan to correct it.
FUEL View: Staff spoke clearly, on the record, in good faith, in a process the president initiated and directed. The least this board president owes them is acknowledgment. That silence is its own answer.
We Need to Address What Else Happened
Before the board meeting, a Substack publication hiding under an anonymous name that has several social media channels followed and supported by Board Majority Members and Sensible Laguna Members posted an article about FUEL President Shaheen Sheik-Sadhal. At the end of that article was an AI-generated image depicting her holding an ax, covered in blood.
This is not political commentary. This is targeted, violent, racialized imagery directed at a named member of our community. It has no place in Laguna Beach. Period.
Shaheen addressed it directly during public comment. Her words deserve to be shared in full. LINK
“There is a piece circulating in this community right now that goes well beyond critique. It is personal, demeaning, and trades in tropes that women, especially women of color, are expected to absorb if they choose to lead.
This image was created and circulated by individuals aligned with the current board majority. It is an AI-generated depiction of me holding an axe covered in blood.
Let us not pretend this exists in a vacuum.
This is the environment surrounding this Board. And whether it is authored directly or amplified indirectly, it reflects on leadership.
I also want to acknowledge something else. There are people in this community, my community, who are hurting tonight. Not because of politics, but because of what this kind of discourse says about who belongs and how we are allowed to show up. I see you, and I am grateful for you.
We are not going to shrink in response to it. We are going to keep showing up, keep asking hard questions, and keep insisting on better, for our schools and for each other.
Because that is what leadership actually looks like.”
We stand with Shaheen and commend her message and leadership following this reprehensible act. We do not believe this behavior is indicative of our larger Laguna Beach community and we hope to see this addressed appropriately.
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Thank you for your support!
